


you stole my heart, i couldn't leave you if i tried

by miriad



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Dean is my Patronus, Fluff, Gen, I wish I could say I can't believe I wrote this but that would be a lie, Just Add Kittens, Lots of events and characters haven't happened yet, Oh you precious sweet baby angels, Pre-Season/Series 04, Sam is a dog person but Dean won't hold that against him, Season/Series 03, Written during the hiatus between seasons 3 and 4, classic!fic, literally fluff- there is a fluffy kitten, no harm comes to anyone in this fic including the kitten
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-17 15:01:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29473635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miriad/pseuds/miriad
Summary: Caring aggressively for people is Dean's love language. Even if the person in question is a cat.
Kudos: 2





	you stole my heart, i couldn't leave you if i tried

**Author's Note:**

> I'm going through all the files that have followed me around, from computer to computer, and from apartment to apartment to house to house, and I found this short little thing that's complete, but I never did anything with it. 
> 
> I wrote this during the hiatus between seasons 3 and 4, after the end of three but before the new episodes for 4 had started airing. I'm showing the original date in my gmail as August 27, 2008. It was originally written from a prompt sent to me by @Alistche, who has been my muse for many, many years. 
> 
> I've only done some basic copy-editing/beta-ing on it, leaving it as it was originally created (mostly), for good or for ill. Honestly, despite being tooth-rotting-ly sweet, it was pretty solid as I found it. 
> 
> It's been a trip to look at work with these characters, knowing what I do about the next 12 seasons, and seeing what was fanon (at least MY fanon) and what was accepted canon at the time this was written, how some of that has changed, and how some of it is exactly the same. 
> 
> I have a lot of feelings (good and bad) about the end of the series and about choices that have been made, from episode 01x01 all the way through 15x20, but I love this stupid show and these ridiculous characters with everything I have in me. Although this story was written with the shadow of Dean's deal coming due, it's still much lighter than a lot of things I've read or written in this universe in a post-season 4 world.
> 
> BUT I DIGRESS.
> 
> Have some fluffy pre-season 4 gen fic, I hope you all have a wonderful day.

He found it wet and shivering and curled up behind the driver's side tire when Dean went out to start the car. He'd almost kicked the thing before he noticed the grungy ball of orange and white.

He looked over his shoulder before bending down. Sam was still packing, pulling together all of their research and certainly not looking out the grimy window or standing in the doorway to watch Dean do something mildly stupid.

It was exactly what he thought it was- a kitten, about the size of his fist.

Upon later reflection, Dean couldn't tell anyone, including himself, why he picked the damn thing up. But he remembers with almost perfect clarity reaching out with both hands, cupping the tiny thing and lifting it out of the melting snow and dirt of the parking lot.

She (of course she was a she, it wasn't even a question in Dean's mind) was freezing, shivering, so Dean pulled her close to his chest, behind the folds of his coat and flannel shirt. The kitten mewled softly and snuffled against him, curling towards Dean's warmth.

"Where did you come from, huh? Hiding behind a tire, for god's sake. What were you thinking?" Dean scritched under her little chin, the fur soft once he'd rubbed away the surface layer of frozen mud.

It was at that point that the kitten sneezed and shuddered in Dean’s hands, fur so wet he could wring it out like a washcloth had it not been a living creature. There were ice crystals in her fur, and he could feel the points of her vertebra and ribs. If Dean thought he could put her down before, he knew for sure he couldn’t do it now.

Forgetting the original purpose of his trip out into the cold, Dean headed back for the motel room, where there was a stack of faded bathroom towels and blankets, as well as his extra flannels and at least one of Sam's hoodies (he'd seen it on the floor at the end of Sam's bed). Dean thought he remembered Sam saying something about having a pet with his roommates when he was a school, possibly a cat, maybe a dog, but either way, if Dean was remembering correctly, Sam'd had a bit more experience as an adult with a pet and might have some ideas as to what they needed to do to make sure the kitten was safe and healthy.

*******

Sam was flipping through a stack of papers and newspaper clipping- definitely not packing them in the laptop case like he was supposed to- when Dean slipped in through the motel room door. But Dean refrained from saying anything, too busy looking down at his kitten and sighing.

"We have a problem."

Sam's head snapped up, eyes wide. Everything could be the end of the world, at this point, in the quest for the answer, for the thing that would get Dean out of The Deal. Dean almost felt bad for the look of alarm that crossed Sam's face. Sam would get over it. Eventually.

"What kind of problem."

"Feline."

"What?" It took Sam a minute, his head tipped to the side, eyes narrowed in thought. "Did you say feline?"

Dean pulled the kitten away from his chest, despite tiny kitty protests, and lifted her to shoulder height. He could tell when Sam registered what he was seeing and pulled the little cat body back to his own.

"Found her-"

"Her, Dean."

"Yeah. Her." Dean could tell. He knew a thing or two about women and this little kitty- he needed to come up with a name, for the love of god- gave him all the vibes that women of other… species gave him. He wondered briefly if it was a gift or a special power, to find women every where he went. He didn't ask Sam but made a mental note to ask Bobby about the possibility later.

"Dean-"

"Look, she's cold, she's probably hungry and I'm not leaving her out there to die. So, just, I don't know, deal with it, okay?"

Sam dropped his paperwork on the motel table and let his shoulders sag forward with a deep sigh, rubbing a hand across his face.

Dean ignored him and his sighing, as Dean had done for most of his life. Sam would either go with the program or he'd be a pissy little bitch. Either way, Dean still controlled their only mode of transport and knew that he could always blast the tunes if Sam got out of hand. He grabbed the last clean towel off the metal rack in the bathroom and swaddled the kitten in the rough, grey towel, rubbing the fabric over her, moving it gently between his hands.

She sneezed again and Dean frowned at his hands, not comfortable with that many kitty sneezes in that short amount of time. "We need to get you in to see someone, kiddo," he muttered to her. "Let's see what options we got in this one horse town."

He sat on the edge of the bed, pulling open the drawer on the bedside table in-between the two queens. Under the Gideon's Bible was a yellowed, crumbling phone book with a giant red "1994" on the front of it. The likelihood that any of the veterinarians in the book were still in business was... well, it was a small town, so they were probably higher than if they'd been in Chicago or LA. 

In order to keep holding on to the kitten and still look through the yellow pages at the back of the phone book, Dean balanced it across his lap, and curled his left arm around the ball of towel and kitten, pressing it tight (but not TOO tight) to his chest. 

He had to lick his finger to make the pages turn, his finger taking on that musty, almost rotten taste of old paper not properly cared for. The kitten moved around a bit but didn't try to get out of the swaddle, as it were. Instead, she peeked her tiny pink nose and tiny green eyes out, over the top of the towel, watching the pages turn and Dean's finger run down the list of names as he searched for the right number. 

There were a ridiculous number of veterinarians for a town as small as the one they were currently in and Dean wondered if that was due to something nefarious or if there were just that many damn cows.

He finally called the eleventh number on the list, a doctor named Mindy who just sounded like the kind of person who would want to take care of lost souls, of all varieties.

Sam dropped his (finally) packed bags at the end of the bed and plopped down on the mattress next to Dean, making the mattress dip. Dean tilted and almost dropped the kitten but used his hunter reflexes (hah) to stay upright and in possession of said cat.

"Dude. Your Gigantor ways need to be reigned in! Seriously!"

"Who are you calling?"

Dean resettled himself and found Dr. Mindy's number again, holding the flip phone in one hand, dialing with his thumb. "Dr. Mindy."

"Dr. Mindy." Sam pulled the phone book out of Dean's hands and scanned the page, finding Dr. Mindy on the list a lot faster than Dean had. "A vet. Dean, we can't afford this. Especially not for a lost kitten that's not even ours."

Dean titled his right hip towards his brother, wiggling his butt. Sam sighed but pulled Dean's wallet out of his back pocket. He opened it to find a row of shiny new credit cards.

"Dean…"

"Sammy, _**we**_ certainly can't afford it but the good Mr. Johan Vanderbahr certainly can. Come on, man, how many times do we do stuff because you want to?"

"Don't pull that crap on me, Dean." Sam looked like he was sucking on a truck full of lemons, 

"Two words, Sammy. Shape Shifter. Or, how about two more words. St. Lewis. Yeah, that was your idea. I think that I get this one."

"You think we haven't done stuff you wanted since then? You are so full of crap-"

Dean held up the kitten and one finger, motioning for quiet.

"Yes, is this Dr. Mindy's office? Yes, I found a kitten- no, I'm not looking to drop her off. No, I just want to make sure that she's okay- I don’t know, I just know. Look, can I bring her in or…. Sure. In twenty minutes. Got it." Dean hung up the phone and tossed it down on the comforter. "Okay. We have an appointment." He looked down at the cat and spoke softly to her. "It's okay, Maggie-"

"Maggie? Seriously? Where did that come from?" Dean blushed at Sam's look, not wanting to admit that the lyrics to “Maggie May” had been bouncing around his head since he'd pick the little lady up and something about the little fluff ball in his hands just screamed 'Call me Maggie'.

"It's a good name."

"You're supposed to name cats Snowball or Fluffy."

"Says who?"

"That's just the way things go-"

"Our cat was named Ralph." Dean felt the surpise wash over his face, his eyes opening wide as he realized what he'd just said, a reveal that seemed to put out the fire under Sam's butt. He froze in place, looking at Dean with no small amount of hurt.

"When did we have a cat named Ralph?" He might as well have been calling Dean a liar to his face, with all the scorn dripping from his voice. Dean was not a fan.

"He was mom's cat. At the old house. In Lawrence." And Dean couldn't say anything else, his throat was a bit tight as he recalled the sleek black of Ralph's fur, the agile tail and long, elegant whiskers.

Sitting on his mama's lap, Ralph tucked in close next to them, as she read story after story. The mice that Ralph had left on the back porch, his contribution to the household.

Ralph had been a hunter too, Dean thought and choked back the sudden surge of emotion. "He didn't come back after the fire. We never saw him after that. So, yeah."

"Dean, I didn't, I mean, we never had any-"

"Yeah, and there was a reason for that. But it's a whole new world, Aladdin, so let's get going." He snagged his phone from the bed and ignored Sam's struggle with the duffels and the computer.

He started the car to warm her up, then popped the trunk. There was a pile of clean rags, for washing and waxing Dean's first baby, and Dean grabbed a handful. He settled in the driver's seat, then set the pile of rags next to him. He twirled the cotton into a nest of sorts and settled the little kitten in the center, tossing the dirty, wet towel on to the floor in in the back.

Maggie struggled to stand up but her little legs just couldn't hold her and she tumbled back down. Dean tried to settle her, to make sure that she wasn't uncomfortable but Maggie made a few sounds of protest at his fussing, and he left her alone.

Sam passed by the window, dropped the bags in the trunk, and slammed it shut. Dean ground his teeth, trying not to yell at his idiot brother because, hello, sick kitty! But, damn it, some people should freaking know better!

Sam slid into the passenger seat and slumped against the door.

"We still have a case, you know."

"Yeah, I know."

"So what are we doing, Dean?"

"Taking care of a few things first. You said it wasn't a pressing matter, that the ghost wasn't malevolent. So, all things being equal, I think we have a hour at least to get Maggie looked at."

"And seriously? Maggie?"

"Don't mock her name, she'll get a complex."

"Dean." Sam stopped as Dean pointed down at the cat who had finally found her sea legs. Her little paws stretched out in front of her, tail curled around her rear end, she looked as regal as a dirty, half dead kitten sitting in a pile of car rags could. Dean couldn't help it, his face shifted into a grin and he looked at Sam with wide, watery eyes.

"And you call me the big giant girl." Sam mirrored Dean's smile and his watery eyes, although neither of them would ever admit to either having happened. 

Dean snorted and looked away, embarrassed but not mortified, which was a good thing. Hard to drive when you're mortified.

*******

The trip to Dr. Mindy's took a lot longer than it should have.

Maggie's rag nest slid on the leather and Dean had to take turns and stops with a bit more caution. There was still snow and a bit of ice out on the roads and Dean was terrified (although he would never admit that, even under pain of death) that he would have to slam on the breaks and Maggie would be launched into the dash.

The office was just outside of town, an old farmhouse with a massive red barn looming behind it. A small sign pointed the way to the waiting room. Dean let Sam open the door for him and Maggie, holding back any snarky comments about gentlemanly behavior. Sam did not seem in the mood.

They were the only ones waiting. The place had the smell of wet dog and carpet cleaner, although the floor was scuffed linoleum. Sam folded himself into one of the orphaned dining room chairs that lined the room. Dean stood at a boarded over window, looking at the door bell with the tiny blue sign reading "Ring Me".

After a moment, he did just that. Before he could get settled in his own chair, the door next to the bell slid open revealing a tall, ageless woman, with long red hair. She had a sharp face but kind eyes and Dean knew at once that he had made the right choice.

"Dean, right?"

"Yeah, that's me."

"Come on back." Dean looked to Sam, who was reading an ancient copy of Cat Fancy magazine. Sam waved him on, never looking up from whatever article he was reading.

The exam room had a stainless steel topped table, a fridge, and one counter with a ton of cabinets. Dr. Mindy- at least, that's who Dean assumed she was- held out her hands for Maggie and grinned when Dean hesitated.

"I'll take good care of her, I promise." Dean handed her over with a feigned air of nonchalance. "First things first, we need to see if she really is a she." Dr. Mindy turned Maggie over, gently pulling back dirty fur, and smiled. "Well, looks like you were right. She's a she. Pretty young but seems healthy. Let's just verify that."

After about thirty minutes of shots, exams and a warm bath, Dr. Mindy determined that Maggie was a healthy girl who just needed a warm place to live, someone (someone's) to love her and a whole lot of food. She gave instructions for how to feed a kitten as young as Maggie, as well as samples of everything under the sun.

Dean handed over the credit card and despite Johan's name across the front, Dr. Mindy ran it and said nothing.

Sam was reading Dog Fancy by the time Dean exited the exam room. Maggie was purring against Dean's chest, happy to be clean, he imagined, knowing the feeling.

"Come on, Sam. Let's go."

*******

Settled again in the car, all of Maggie's swag carefully packed in the trunk, the grocery list if items they still needed to pick up sitting next to her rag nest, Dean risked a look over at Sam.

"So, not leaving her with the vet."

"No."

"Right. Okay."

And that was it. Sam didn’t say anything else, even though Dean could tell by the set of his jaw and the slight grinding sound coming from Sam's side of the car that he really, really wanted to. Dean gave Maggie's head a gentle rubbing, his mother's voice in his head reminding him that kitties were delicate and he needed to have a soft touch.

He put the car in drive and pulled out. They had a case.

The End

**Author's Note:**

> I'll be posting work I'm finding as part of my ongoing attempts to kickstart my own creativity/writing juices, this is just the first whack at it. 
> 
> I *promise* you I'm working on the next chapter of "In Spite of All the Danger" but 2020 and *waves hands* literally everything has made writing difficult, if not impossible, which is why I'm resorting to reading old work and trying to catch the spark that had me writing bits and pieces just about everyday, back in the day. 
> 
> I'm doing my best to make 2021 a creative and productive year, so thanks so much for reading (if you made it this far).
> 
> Let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions or ideas for things to write in order to get the juices flowing.


End file.
